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Fantasy » alt.fan.tolkien » Re: CotW Silmarillion 6 - Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor
| Re: CotW Silmarillion 6 - Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor [message #210334] |
Di, 24 Januar 2006 19:53 |
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In message
<news:1134347597.805641.246060 [at] g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>
"RoRowe" <rorowe-501 [at] sbcglobal.net> enriched us with:
>
> SUMMARY
<snip>
> We begin Chapter 6 with the Eldar in the Blessed Realm. Things are
> going well for the Firstborn and Melkor is still chained. We are
> told that the bliss of the Eldar is at its Noontide but that the
> bliss is all too brief. [1]
'long in the tale of years, but in memory too brief.'
I am reminded rather of /The Hobbit/:
Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to
have and days that are good to spend are soon told about,
and not much to listen to; while things that are uncom-
fortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a
good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway.
[TH-3 'A Short Rest']
> Fëanor's birth is announced. He is born in the House of the King,
> the eldest son of Finwë. His given name is Curufinwë (curu meaning
> "skill") but he is called Fëanor by his mother, Fëanor meaning
> "Spirit of Fire".
Which must of course be recalled later, at his death.
> We are told that Fëanor's mother is skilled in weaving and
> needlework
Byrde Míriel, she is called in LQ[*], meaning 'broideress'.
[*] /The Later Quenta Silmarillion/, as published in /Morgoth's Ring/
(MR) and /The War of the Jewels/ (WJ), HoMe10 and HoMe11
> and that "The love of Finwë and Míriel was great and glad, for
> it began in the Blessed Realm in the Days of Bliss."
I cannot help but feel that it is a bit unfair if love is greater and
gladder if it begins 'in the Blessed Realm in the Days of Bliss', and
that such would detract in some ways from the love of Beren and
Lúthien. On the other hand it might also mean that the love of Finwë
and Míriel was only 'great and glad' for that reason . . .
<snip>
> Finwë took a second wife, Indis the Fair who was a Vanya.
That statement covers a great deal of work by Tolkien. It would seem
that the whole work on the text called 'Laws and Customs among the
Eldar' or, to use the long title on the last typescript, 'Of the Laws
and Customs Among the Eldar Pertaining to Marriage and Other Matters
Related Thereto: Together With the Statute of Finwë and Míriel and
the Debate of the Valar at its Making' (incredible title, isn't it
<G>).
As the title suggests, that text it tied to the story about Finwë and
his two wives. I wonder why it wasn't included in the published
Silmarillion (as an appendix, perhaps) -- the problems with the
presentation of reincarnation through actual rebirth could surely
have been solved by recourse to other sources for an update of that
section; the same applies to other ideas and concepts that was
superceded by later texts insofar as the later ideas were
incorporated into the published book. I think that Tolkien did mean
for this text to stand together with this chapter in /The
Silmarillion/.
The problem was the inviolability of marriage combined with the
immortality of the Quendi and not the least the need for Finwë to
remarry and provide the motivation needed in the story of Fëanor.
The solution was to recourse to a special kind of mortality -- if the
Fëa was denied reincarnation within the duration of Arda, either by
itself or by Mandos, then the marriage, which was for /life/, could
be dissolved.
How then can a marriage be ended and the union be
dissolved? For unless this be done, there can be no second
marriage. By the law of the nature of the Elves, the neri
and the nissi being equal, there can be union only of one
with one. Plainly an end can be made only by the ending of
the will; and this must proceed from the Dead, or be by
doom. By the ending of the will, when the Dead are not
willing ever to return to life in the body; by doom, when
they are not permitted to return. For a union that is for
the life of Arda is ended, if it cannot be resumed within
the life of Arda.
This was only possible by recourse to Manwë and a doom by Mandos (by
which the will of the dead should be known.
In later developments of the story, Finwë, after his murder by Melkor
and reunion with Míriel, voluntarily offers to stay at Mandos to keep
the statute safe (thus discontinuing both his marriages), so that
Míriel could be re-embodied and, entering the House of Vairë (as the
only living), embarked upon her great project of weaving a tapestry,
[...] and all tidings of the Noldor down the years from
their beginning were brought to her, and she wove them
in webs historial, so fair and skilled that they seemed
to live, imperishable, shining with a light of many hues
fairer than are known in Middle-earth.
Now there is a tapestry I'd like to see ;)
> Fëanor did not love Indis nor her sons Fingolfin and Finarfin,
> Fëanor's half brothers and Fëanor lived apart from his father.
I think it is suggested, though not said outright, that it is the
early loss of his mother that caused Fëanor to jealously guard all
that he thought was his own, and to resent any attempt to take or
diminish it -- even when it was all the love of his father.
That this early loss was important is, I think, also implied by the
rejected emendation to the Annals of Aman, where Fëanor was born in
Middle-earth during the Great March (the First-born of the Eldar) to
Finwë's wife, Indis, who then lost her life passing the Misty
Mountains (where, ages later, a descendant of Indis was caught by
Orcs),
> We are told that this breach in Finwë's house had a lasting
> impression on Fëanor that caused great sorrow to the Eldar and
> others in later years. [5]
It is opined by 'many' (an indication, I think, that Tolkien agreed),
that if Finwë hadn't remarried, things would not have gone as bad. I
suppose that if Fëanor had not felt that he was bereaved not only of
his mother, but also of (part of) his father's love, then he might
not have become as jealous about his other 'possessions' (such as the
Silmarils).
<snip>
> DISCUSSION POINTS
[...]
> [2] Fëanor has truly exceptional talents and skills that are
> described in this chapter and are demonstrated later in
> the QS.
As Mandos put it (as reported in /Morgoth's Ring/ (MR)), he is the
greatest of the Eldar in potency:
Aulë nameth Fëanor the greatest of the Eldar, and in
potency that is true. But I say unto you that the children
of Indis shall also be great, and the Tale of Arda more
glorious because of their coming.
[Morgoth's Ring 3,II 'Laws and Customs among the Eldar' - 'Of the
Severence of Marriage']
> It seems clear that Fëanor's spirit consumed more strength
> from Míriel than was required for creating a normal life.
> Is this the reason that Fëanor is extremely gifted?
No, I think that the causality is rather the other way around: that
it took so much out of Míriel because of Fëanor's potential -- that
Fëanor's greatness was such that it required a larger nourishment
from his mother's fëa than would normally go into a number of
children (see also my reply elsewhere in the thread, where I quote
the relevant passage from MR).
> [3] What is the deal with the extremely gifted in Tolkien's
> QS? Why are they the ones that want to master the minds
> of others? (I'm thinking of Fëanor and Melkor.)
They may not be the only ones to want that, but they're those most
likely to succeed (and the less gifted are more likely to find
themselves following one of these extremely gifted). It is in the
nature of Free Wills, I suppose.
<snip>
> [6] Does it seem odd that Manwë does not comprehend evil at
> this point considering Melkor's past acts?
Not really. It does seem a general theme that Good and Evil are (with
the exception of Eru Ilúvatar) different paradigms, incommensurable
so that you cannot understand one based on the world-view of the
other. Compare, for instance, Gandalf's words about Sauron in LotR:
For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety
in the scales of his malice. But the only measure that
he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges
all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter
that any will refuse it, that having the Ring we may
seek to destroy it.
[Gandalf, LotR II,2 'The Council of Elrond']
And later
That we should wish to cast him down and have no one in
his place is not a thought that occurs to his mind. That
we should try to destroy the Ring itself has not yet
entered into his darkest dream.
[Gandalf, III,5 'The White Rider']
This lack of understanding by Sauron seems to me to parallel the lack
of understanding by Manwë in /The Silmarillion/. I suspect that
Gandalf's clearsight in this in part stems from his unique position
as Incarnate Maia working for Good.
> If Manwë had perceived that love had departed from Melkor
> for ever, would Manwë then have suspected evil?
We cannot know, can we? But I do suspect so. As I've said elsewhere
this seems to me to suggest that love is the indicator of a potential
for redemption (and probably that it is a requirement for
redemption), so the absence thereof is very telling.
However, Manwë, even had he wanted to, could not have seen this, or
at least that is how I interpret the statement that Melkor 'hid his
thought' -- that he closed his mind. It is one of the characteristics
mentioned in /Ósanwe-kenta/ that nobody can read a mind that is
closed -- not even Melkor could force entry (but he could try to
deceive or bully the other to open his mind).
<snip>
> [8] Why does Melkor zero in on Fëanor? Is it because Fëanor is
> their best and brightest or does Melkor sense a threat?
Fëanor was greatest in potency of all the Eldar (according to
Mandos), and Melkor hated the Eldar above anything else. Destroying
the least of the Eldar wouldn't have meant anything to Melkor, but
the greatest . . . in particular as Fëanor was more obviously the
'greatest' in terms of the way Melkor would see it -- Ingwë, the
High King? Hah! The sissy! ;)
> By Fëanor's greatest works, does this refer to the Simarils?
What else could it be? In the context I don't think it could be his
greatest betrayals, and his other works (of Art) are lesser, IMO
(both his script, the palantíri and what else we're told he made).
<snip>
--
Troels Forchhammer
Valid e-mail is <t.forch(a)email.dk>
One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters.
- Aragorn "Strider", /Two Towers/ (J.R.R. Tolkien)
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